Beckton Churns Out 229 Yards for Los Alamitos

By the time Los Alamitos High School started its halftime homecoming extravaganza Thursday night, tailback LaQuan Beckton was nearly ready to call it a night.

After all, Beckton already had outgained the entire Katella offense, 168 yards to 17, while leading the Griffins to a 28-point lead.

But Beckton showed up for the second half, finishing with 229 yards in 30 carries and three touchdowns as Los Alamitos cruised to a 42-6 Empire League win at Veterans Stadium.

Beckton, a 5-foot-10, 230-pound senior, returned the second-half kickoff 47 yards to the Katella 35-yard line and scored five plays later on a one-yard run to give Los Alamitos a 35-0 lead. He scored on another one-yard dive with 3 minutes 53 seconds left in the third quarter.

“He looked pretty good tonight,” Los Alamitos Coach John Barnes said. “He was slowed earlier this year (with a hamstring pull) and was hurt most of two-a-day practices. It has taken him about a month to get back into form.”

But the Griffins (4-3, 1-1 in league play) didn’t rely just on Beckton and fullback Andrew Fuentes, who rushed for 62 yards in seven carries and a touchdown.

“Our offense did a good job and our fullback was banging into guys,” Barnes said.

Los Alamitos’ passing attack, which has struggled at times this season, came alive as senior John Collins completed nine of 14 passes for 132 yards and two touchdowns, all in the first half.

Collins’ favorite target was senior wide receiver Tyler Cashman, who caught six passes for 94 yards and a touchdown.

The Griffins kept the Knights (2-5, 1-1) off-balance in the first half with Beckton’s running and Collins’ passing.

Beckton had 52 yards in Los Alamitos’ first possession of the game, which was capped by a two-yard touchdown run by Fuentes with 7:35 left in the first quarter.

The Griffins continued grinding out the yards in the second quarter, outscoring Katella, 21-0.

Collins threw two touchdown passes in the quarter--24 yards to George Sagen and four yards to Cashman--and Beckton scored on a 27-yard run.

Katella’s Chris Reed threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Steve Young two minutes later.